Chapter 9: Cabin in the Woods
Six months after the events in Night City…
A bird.
Birds were something beautiful. Their songs and colorful feathers were just art. Judy had never seen any live birds in Night City, so she now enjoyed them even more.
But at the moment, the bird's tweeting was disturbing the mood of two women that were having sex in the woods.
'Sorry, lil' shitter, but you gotta go!'
The talented BD-techie did a few adjustments and the disturbing tweets were gone. Instead, she replaced them by intensifying the lovers' feelings for each other.
For a few minutes, Judy watched those two women. How they were having fun. How they were happy and being in love. And it hurt. It hurt deep inside.
'Shit!' she eventually thought as her own overwhelming feelings began to interfere with the virtu's editing process, causing her to quit the work and exit the editor.
Frustrated, she threw her headset onto the table of her small office and stared into empty space. She missed V. Missed the sound of her voice, her odor, her aura, her kindness and selflessness.
She recalled the morning they had gotten, once again, attacked by the assassins.
V had told her to stay put, but luckily, she hadn't listened to her again, but instead had put on her diving gear and had escaped the house through a small hatch that had led under the house right before the first grenades had started their destructive work.
She had felt and heard the muffled explosions underwater, some small bits and pieces raining down here and there through the water surface. And as she had finally reached the other end of the lake, everything had been already over. The last house of Laguna Bend had become a burning pile of rubble and V had been abducted.
If it had been after Judy, she would've stayed in Night City and even searched for her friend, but she made a promise. A promise to go and stay alive. And that's what she had done: Burning all the bridges.
Right before she had deleted her old life and replaced it with her new ID, Judy had called her grandma - her apualita - one last time, telling her that she had to go under the radar for some time. Of course, her grandmother was sad at first, but then understood and accepted it as she realized that the only alternative was death.
Applying the new identity then, was nothing more than uploading a program. Everything had gotten overwritten. Her bank account, her contacts, her entire life. Just everything, even her name.
Judy Álvarez was gone, and had been replaced by Marianna Colomar.
She didn't remember much about her trip, per se. Only, that it had mostly been under tears. Everything had crashed down on her in one big blow after the pressure had been gone.
As soon as she had arrived in Appalachia, the south-eastern state of the NUSA, she had gotten welcomed by a mid-aged Asian woman, who had taken her in for the first few months, probably a part of the whole ID-package, sponsored by Wakako.
Her name was Haruka. Haruka Yamara. And she was somehow related to Wakako. In general, Judy had the feeling that the fixer-queen was helping her more than she should have. Why? She didn't know.
Haruka had also fixed her up with a job as a waitress at the local diner and had also organized that she could buy an old, wooden cabin in the middle of nowhere with her first earned money.
Judy had made it her new home very quickly, and had put every Eddie she had earned into it. She also had picked up her old profession as a BD-technician as a side-job for some additional money.
Appalachia was some sort of mining-state, since most people earned their money by working for mining companies, like TerraCorp. But there were also freelancers and diggers without families, trying their luck to find a big fortune by prospecting on their own, which made Appalachia a hotbed for the smut-industrie and therefore a lot of potential customers for smut-BDs.
Pretty quickly, the young BD-techie had realized that her old profession could come in handy here, as quite a number of lonely men and women had made a move on her. Yet, so far, she had been confident enough to fend them off pretty quickly.
Of course, this became a topic during some conversations with Haruka, and started a co-operation between the two, as Haruka - who didn't say no to some sexual adventures - delivered the virtus and Judy scrolled and edited the BDs.
Soon, the duo had become very popular way beyond their hometown. However, virtu-tuning wasn't for Judy what it once used to be, anymore. Because every couple, every sex-scene reminded her of V.
Though the young woman had burned all bridges, she still struggled to move on with her love-life. V had been perfect, and any other woman, no matter the age or character, was just wrong.
But this wasn't everything. Yes, it was easy to leave everyone and everything behind or to overwrite your identity, but deleting bad memories was almost impossible. In fact, Judy recalled every detail of everything that had happened since she had taken that gig from this crazy bitch, Miss Crown.
On bad days, the scars on her chest and wrist began to itch or even hurt, and at these moments she was reminded of how it felt to get impaled by a pair of blades, which eventually led to a downward spiral of negative memories. The doll market on Jig-Jig street, the Greasy Piston, the destroyed house at the lake…
Judy once used to take everything stoically and with some cynicism, but those times were over. She suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder and even had started smoking again.
She was just about to grab a cigarette and go for a smoke outside as it suddenly knocked on her door.
Bad guys don't knock.
She remembered this saying from V with a scoff. Yet, she still took the loaded pistol from a table beside the door and then linked with a camera that was showing the outside.
The young woman almost fell over as she recognized the familiar face. Her hair was now green and long, bound into a ponytail, but she never could forget this beautiful face.
Overwhelmed by excitement, she ripped open the door, exclaiming joyfully "V!" while jumping at her, wrapping her arms around her neck and giving her an intense embrace while sobbing and shedding tears of joy into her shoulders.
V softly replied the embrace and brushed softly over Judy's back, whispering "See, told ya I'd find you!"
The younger woman then broke the hug, but only to pull V in for an intense kiss, and she immediately realized that something was off. It somehow felt different, yet she scolded herself that her mind was maybe playing some tricks, because, in fact, they had only shared one night. One awesome night, nonetheless.
Realizing that she was giving it too much of a thought, Judy let it all out in a sigh and focused directly at V again.
"C'mon in! I'll show you my new place."
The young techie took her friend's hand and guided her inside.
"I know, it looks pretty ol'-fashioned, but I like it," she added and signed at the wooden interior.
In size, the cabin wasn't bigger than the small house at the lake. One big living room with a kitchen, where Judy's editing-equipment was occupying a corner of it, a bathroom and a bedroom.
"It looks awesome," V affirmed and sat down on a vintage, green couch that was in the center of the room, facing a big screen on the wall, and Judy took a seat on a recliner right beside it.
A heavy, uncomfortable silence settled in. But while V was just sitting there, seemingly being standing-offish, Judy got nervous, shuffling around in her seat.
"So, um…" the young techie said insecurely, trying to break the quietness. "How'd you find me?"
And again, V just stared into empty space, like she needed to process those words, causing Judy to ask herself if her friend was traumatized. But then the merc just gazed emotionlessly at her and said "Old habits die hard, don't they, Miss Álvarez?"
At the same time, two Mantisblades were cutting the wooden front door into three pieces, two of them falling to the ground while the third got held in place by the hinges.
Judy was already about to jump up and get one of the numerous guns scattered around her home, but got pushed forcefully back onto her seat by V.
"V, what the fuck?!" she exclaimed and then watched in horror how Miss Crown and Adolfo Brians stepped through the opening, whereas the latter one was aiming with his revolver at the young woman. She was wearing some overly expensive Corpo-dress, like attending a Soiree, Adolfo casual clothes.
Her hands trembling, Judy let her out of fear wide open eyes switch between her friend and the two assassins, whispering desperately "V…", hoping that the merc might help her. But instead, the merc just sat back on the couch like nothing unusual was happening.
"Hello, Miss Álvarez," Caren Crown greeted her cheerfully with a wide, toothy smile. "Or should I call you Miss Colomar?"
"Fuck you!" was everything Judy was able to reply with a trembling voice. Her nightmares had caught up with her and now there was no chance to escape them anymore.
Still cackling viciously, Caren Crown took a seat beside V on the couch, flinging one arm around her shoulders. "You like my new toy?" she asked, and apart from the sudden closeness, it also became eerie as both started to speak simultaneously. "She's my latest experiment. A remote controlled weapon under the influence of a Remote Control Chip, or RCC. Just too bad, that you have to be my lil' lab rat again. So, what do you think?"
On the brink of a mental breakdown, Judy's lips began to tremble while her eyes began to leak some tears. Now she had lost everything, soon, even her life. Night City had followed her and now wanted its toll. But, she wasn't willing to accept her fate just yet. In defiance, she gulped down her panic and gazed with a murderous glare at the assassin.
"She's fake. Some fuckface like you never could act like her. And you suck at kissing!"
Adolfo, who was still standing in the room and aiming at the young BD-techie, let his gaze wander towards his partner, knowing that she had a short fuse regarding her person. But Caren Crown stayed relaxed, just chuckling again.
"Oh these last remnants of resistance towards the end, I love 'em. Spitting the superior enemy one last time in the face, hoping for one last mistake that would save the situation… But y'know what, Miss Álvarez, I so don't give a fuck. You're gonna die today. That's it, end of story. And to sweeten the pot, I'm gonna tell you that it's your fault that we found you. Our lil' V here is entirely innocent. Yes, when we searched through her brain, we found the digital footprint of your flight ticket, but not your new ID, 'cause it was encrypted. Eventually, it was your destination and those very well tuned BDs that brought us back on your track."
Her own BDs. The only thing that she had held dearly had now brought her downfall.
"Why?" Judy then spoke with a brittle voice as desperation was taking over again. "Why are you doing this? I left Night City and told nobody 'bout your shit. I just wanna be left alone."
Not feeling any sorts of remorse or mercy, Caren Crown got up from her seat and closed in at the young woman. "You killed my baby-sister, you lil' piece of gonk-shit!" she hissed and turned away, walking over to Adolfo and watched how V got up as well and drew her gun, aiming it at Judy's head.
"V…" she said with a trembling tone under sobs as she looked the merc right into her cold, violet eyes. "I'm so sorry!"
Mercilessly, V remained in her position, yet didn't pull the trigger.
"What the…?!" Miss Crown exclaimed and yelled "Just waste this bitch, you fuckin' gonk!"
"It's the RCC," Adolfo mentioned, now shifting his aim towards V, just in case. "The doc warned us that very strong emotions towards a target could interfere with the chip and let it malfunction."
"Ugh!" the female assassin eventually replied, drawing her own pistol. "If you want it done right, you better do it yourself."
She then walked past V, pushing her a bit aside and shot Judy right in the chest, twice. The young techie twitched with every impact before her body went limp, her head tilting to the side.
"WAS IT THAT HARD, YOU CUNT?!" Miss Crown yelled at the still frozen V, who was still holding the gun in front of her and was staring at the lifeless body of her friend.
Her lips began to tremble and a tear emerged from the corner of her eyes.
"J-J-Judy…J-Jude…fr-fr-friend…s-sorry…" she mumbled continuously until it was a chain of one and the same word, getting louder with each syllable. "...Judy…Judy…Judy…JUDY!"
She was trapped in an endless nightmare. Since they had captured her, all she could remember were pain and torture.
At the beginning, they had beaten her up and asked for info of how she had cracked the scrambler, yet she had kept her mouth shut, only telling them that it had been only her and not Judy. What followed were several days in a cold cell, without food, water or even clothes. Only thoughts about Judy and how she would live in peace, thanks to her sacrifice, and how she would see her again one day if she would just endure this torment, had kept her alive.
But they hadn't been done with her. At least, Caren Crown still had a personal vendetta with her and Judy. Forcefully, they had read out the memory of the last data that had gone over V's chip, but only learned that Judy was hiding somewhere in Appalachia.
But the real nightmare came when they had put this strange chip into her neuro-socket. They called it RCC and it caused V to lose control over her body. And then they tested it.
It had felt like just being an observer inside her own body, just watching what she had been doing without stopping.
She recalled exhausting, endless training-sessions, killing some random people and even having intercourse with strangers, men and women. And these were just the tests.
One day, Caren Crown had come to her, joyfully telling that they had found Judy. V had tried to resist. Had tried to regain control over her own body and then kill this bitch on the spot. But no matter what she has tried, her body wouldn't listen to her mind.
She was doomed to watch. Doomed to watch how they had found this cabin in the woods. How Judy had opened the door for her with a following heartwarming welcome. And all she could do was to watch how Caren Crown had used her to gain trust and access.
Inside, V screamed and fought the chip furiously, especially when she aimed the pistol at Judy. And it worked, her body resisting to execute the last order and pull the trigger.
And then it happened. Caren simply shot Judy. Two shots, straight in her chest. It was the moment she broke free from her shackles with a loud screamed "JUDY!"
A shot chimed, hitting V in the shoulder with full force. Being unprepared for the impact, it caused her to stumble forward, where she tripped over the recliner's foot and luckily hit the ground, so that the other shots missed her.
Her bulletproof jacket had stopped the projectile, yet still her shoulder hurt like it had been hit by a jackhammer.
Blindly, she fired a few shots into the enemy's direction while she kept on moving until she had reached the counter of the kitchen, where she took cover.
But there wasn't any time to rest as Adolfo, who had used his Sandavistan, appeared right beside her and wanted to ram his combat knife into her head. Barely, the young merc managed to evade the blow by rolling away and as she got on her feet she realized her mistake, because now she was without cover and an easy target for the other assassin.
Yet, there was no shot. On the contrary, Caren just stood there, arms crossed, pistol still in her hand and nodded towards Adolfo, who had undressed his upper clothes and held the knife ready.
It was clear now that he wanted an one-on-one fight and V would deliver. She took off her jacket as well, now just wearing a plain, gray T-shirt, and took one of the larger kitchen knives.
Both were holding their position, muscles flexed, knives up and ready to attack.
Judy was gone and everything that remained for V was revenge, so she focused entirely on the upcoming fight, knowing that she was about to have a big disadvantage since her implants weren't working. A measure taken to make her less of a threat.
She anticipated that Adolfo would use his Sandavistan right at the beginning in order to end the fight fast. And indeed he did. Within a second he had bridged the distance between them, aiming with his knife at her head.
She ducked and evaded the blow, planning to counter it right away.
Steel connected with steel as the assassin blocked her knife and hit her right in the face with his fist.
The impact was hard, causing V to stumble backwards. For a moment, she was confused, lightdots sparkling in her sight. But there was no time to rest since Adolfo's next attack followed in an instant.
Again, she managed to avoid the blade by parrying it into a different direction, causing an opening in her opponent's defense, which she used to ram her knee right into his crotch.
Adolfo groaned and stumbled backwards, one hand holding his genitals, while the other still held the combat knife ready.
Not wanting to give him a rest as well, V charged at him right away, her focus on his blade. A mistake, as Adolfo had fooled her by making her believe that his other hand was occupied. Instead, he hammered it right into her stomach, causing the young woman so much pain that she gasped loudly and sank to her knees as all strength left her legs.
Her defense was down and pain robbed her senses. She was at the enemy's mercy, but knew right away that he wouldn't have any.
Suddenly, the loud jets of an AV-4A could be heard outside, distracting the tall man long enough that V - who was still just focused on revenge - rammed her knife into Adolfo's arm, impaling it right above the wrist and cut through his entire forearm, up to his elbow, cutting muscle flesh and blood vessels.
He screamed out and his knife fell to the ground as he couldn't hold it anymore. Furiously, he gave V a kick in the chest, which sent her to the floor.
A flood of red liquid emerged from the gigantic cut as he pulled out the kitchen knife and tried to hold the gap close by using his hand, while V was still squirming under agony.
At the same time, four individuals stormed the house, armed to the teeth and wearing heavy armor.
"Trauma Team! Everybody step away from the patient and don't move!" one of the security specialists yelled as they made their way to Judy.
Everybody watched in surprise how the Trauma Team Emergency Medical Technicians were checking on her after putting her limp body on a stretcher, while Miss Crown, V and Adolfo got watched by the two security specialists.
"Heavy trauma to the chest, pulse weak. Emergency evac, ASAP!" the main EMT announced as he and his assistant immediately began to carry her outside.
Adolfo, the immense blood loss clouding his mind, took a step towards the security specialist that was watching him and V, saying "Hey, gimme bandage, will ya?"
But the guard just aimed his gun at him, stating "Sir, step back or I'll use force!"
"Listen, dipshit," he groaned back with gritted teeth. "All I want is a fuckin' bandage from your med-pack. Nothin' more."
"Sir, if you have a Trauma Team membership, another squad will soon arrive and take care of you. But right now, I need you to step back or I'll shoot. Last warning!"
"Adolfo… Just stand down!" Miss Crown commanded with a warning gaze, not wanting that the situation would escalate. Sadly, she was unaware that the tall man had an experimental military chip implanted that would activate as soon as the blood pressure was under a certain point, pumping his body full with stimulants and adrenaline, so that, even with heavy injuries, he would be able to stay in the fight. Yet, it was also increasing his rage, causing him to yell at the security specialist.
"WHAT'S YOUR FUCKIN' PROBLEM, YOU FUCKWIT?! JUST HAND ME A FUCKIN' BAN-..."
He didn't come any further as the Trauma Team soldier opened fire and dumped the entire magazine of his SMG into Adolfo's body. Blood and body parts were scattered all over the place behind him until his corpse hit the ground beside V.
"Threat neutralized. Spent ammunition counted and covered by the patient's package," the security guard emotionlessly reported before he withdrew with the rest of his squad.
With awe, V, who had been sitting on the ground the entire time, watched how the AV took off again, her beloved Judy aboard and brought to safety. Why Trauma Team had been there in the first place, she didn't know. But it was irrelevant, eventually. Judy was safe, and that was all that mattered to her.
Dryly, she began to chuckle as she fought to get back on her feet again. "You failed again," she mentioned towards Miss Crown, who was still staring at Adolfo's mutilated corpse. "You fuckin' bitch failed to kill a lil' BD-techie, and now you even lost this piece of gonk-shit over there."
V was now standing on wobbly legs, exhausted from the fight beforehand, but not ready to give up as she bent down and picked up hers and Adolfo's knife.
Caren Crown gazed at her with a murderous glare. She still had the pistol in her one hand and could've easily shot V, but instead threw it somewhere into the room and drew her Mantisblades.
"One rule," she mentioned as she slowly approached V. "Last bitch standing, wins."
V agreed with a nod, and this time it was her, who made the first move by charging at her enemy with a loud scream.
Her slashes got easily avoided, just hitting air, and were followed by a counterattack. One blow, she could parry with the combat knife, whereas the kitchen knife couldn't even withstand one impact of Caren's durasteel blades, which cut through it like a hot knife through butter. Luckily, this blow was redirected enough so that it only slashed open her T-shirt and grazed her skin.
But the fight was far from being over. Continuously, Miss Crown attacked the young merc, forcing her more and more into an exhausting defense. Inventory got cut in half, clothes were cut. It was a war of attrition whereas V was at the losing end at this time.
A slash missed her only by an inch, impacting into the floor, whereas the second blade aimed at her chest right away. Barely, V managed to redirect it with the knife, so that it pierced through her thigh.
A hot pain ran through her left leg, causing the merc to scream out her pain. As a reply, V used the chance to stick the combat knife into the Mantisblade's mechanic in Caren Crown's arm and turned it, causing some damage and making the assassin groan in pain.
Having an emergency release in case of a malfunction, the blade got severed from the arm. Now V had the chance to get away from her enemy again by limping backwards.
She pulled out the, still in her leg stuck, blade and threw it away. She felt exhausted, almost unable to keep on fighting, let alone standing on one leg. There was no chance she could win this fight, but giving up was also not an option.
Caren Crown was also breathing heavily, her clothes in some places cut. But she was still ready to go and, additionally, extremely furious that her one blade got destroyed.
Without further ado, she activated her military grade Sandavistan and bridged the gap between her and V so fast that the latter one could neither react nor felt that a blade was sticking in her chest.
Both women stood face-to-face, gazing at each other deeply. Mercyless eyes locking to surprised ones. It was a silent moment, only broken by a combat knife that was hitting the ground.
At this moment, Caren Crown's mind filled with joy. She had won this fight and shown this bitch who was in charge here. Soon, this lil' merc would kick the bucket and the way to Álvarez would be free. So, full victory was just a matter of time. She just had to wait until V would give up and close her eyes.
But instead, her violet eyes began to sparkle as she started to chuckle again, whiffing defiantly into her opponent's face.
"Big mistake…cunt!"
Miss Crown got entirely taken off guard as her head got swiftly taken into a tight grip, lifted a bit and then turned abruptly, so that her neck broke with a loud crack.
The surprise still written all over the assassin's face, a last breath escaped her mouth before she collapsed along with V. Both were lying on the ground for some time, one dead, one half alive.
Her work was done. The killers were dead and Judy hopefully alive and safe. No wonder that V just let herself fall into darkness.
She didn't know how long it had taken her to finally gather enough strength to regain consciousness, but now she felt the pain, causing her to groan and squirm. She didn't want to die, but to stay alive. She wanted to be with Judy and live happily, forever. But was this even possible? Who would help her? Who would treat her wounds before she would bleed out?
"Holy fuckshit, what happened here?!" a female voice suddenly sounded from the door, right before quick steps came close, and V got turned on her back. "Hey, gonk-fuck, I'm talkin' to ya!"
Above her was a mid-aged Asian woman, whose colorful dyed hair was long along the middle of her head and shaved at both sides. At first, she gazed angrily at V, but over time her demeanor softened.
"Hey, you're V, right!?" she then blurted out, facepalming herself on the forehead before she began to help her. "Shit, auntie Wacko, uh…Wakako already mentioned that you might show up here. And Judy… Fuck, no day went by without mentioning you at least once."
The blade was still stuck in her chest, making it impossible for V to get moved without moving Miss Crown's corpse as well. But the Asian woman simply retracted a Monowire from her wrist, put it around the dead woman's forearm and pulled, severing it from the rest of the body.
"Bloody fuck, what a mess!" she exclaimed and started to help up V. "C'mon, choom, I'll bring ya to my ripperdoc, he'll patch ya up!"
V gave herself at the unknown woman's mercy. She was weak, not able to fight or to argue anymore. Instead, she listened to the woman, whereas she didn't really care what she was saying.
"Thank fucks that auntie Wakako likes you so much and threw in a platinum Traum Team membership for Judy. Saw the AV flying off. Hope she's gonna be okay."
"Judy…" V whispered as she was looking out of the passenger's window, because the young BD-techie was everything she could think about. The thoughts about her were the only reasons that were keeping her alive at the moment. The only reason to stay alive. She recalled every minute the two of them had been together. Every minute. Every second, positive and negative. And it painted a soft smile on her lips before she closed her eyes and drifted into a welcoming darkness.